Legal Fellow, Cato Institute
Mike Fox is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. His areas of interest include overcriminalization, police accountability, and coercive plea bargaining. Before joining Cato, Fox served as a Colorado public defender and worked for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management. He received his BS in political science from Northeastern University and his JD from Suffolk University Law School.
Michael Poon is an attorney in the Pacific Legal Foundation's Separation of Powers practice.
Criminal Deputy Attorney General, Utah Attorney General's Office
While in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah, Stewart Young served as Senior Litigation Counsel and Training Officer. He also worked in the Financial Fraud Section, the Violent Crime Section, and the Narcotics Section. He has been lead or co-counsel on twenty felony jury trials and 22 appellate briefs. Young recently returned from Amman, Jordan, where he served as a counterterrorism prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Young has investigated and prosecuted public corruption, bribery, mail/wire fraud, Ponzi schemes, criminal tax violations, narcotics trafficking, and continuing criminal enterprise. He has also trained federal prosecutors at the National Advocacy Center and been responsible for large-scale investigations involving multiple defendants relating to complex white-collar and securities violations, narcotics trafficking, and violent street gang-affiliated conspiracies.
Young, a Stanford Law School and Princeton University graduate, started his prosecutorial career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California. He spent several years as a tenure-track law professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law, teaching classes on criminal procedure, criminal adjudication, and border crimes. He also clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Judge Paul Cassell at the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
Vice President, Special Advisor for Proxy & Corporate Actions, Broadridge
As a key proxy and corporate actions expert, Larry focuses on creating new ways to create value for clients within the Broadridge network globally and bring a valuable client perspective to Broadridge’s product and service evolution. He also drives and supports key industry initiatives such as end-to-end confirmation for proxy contests.
With more than 25 years in financial services, Larry brings extensive expertise from Fidelity Investments, where he was formerly the Vice President for the Operations and Services Group. In this role, Larry had product and business management responsibilities for the Asset Services Division, which included domestic and global Corporate Actions and Proxy. Larry has also led and participated in several industry working and advisory groups focused on evaluating legislative and regulatory changes as well as driving industry best practices.
Mr. Conover earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Rutgers University, and an MBA/MIS degree from St Peter’s University. Mr. Conover holds Series 7 and 24 licenses and completed the Securities Industry Institute program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Former Managing Director, BlackRock Inc.
Joanne Medero was until July 2020 a Managing Director at BlackRock where she was member of their Global Public Policy Group and a Senior Advisor to the Vice Chairman on the intersection of public policy and corporate governance. In June 2021, Ms. Medero was appointed a director/trustee of the Nuveen Funds.
Ms. Medero's service with BlackRock dates back to 1996, including her years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. She joined BGI as its Global General Counsel in 1996 and after more than ten years in that role, became the global head of Government Relations and Public Policy for Barclays’ investment banking and investment management businesses. Prior to joining BGI, Ms. Medero was a partner with Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe specializing in derivatives and market regulation issues. Ms. Medero also served as general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1989-1993) and as an associate director for legal and financial affairs at the Office of Presidential Personnel, The White House (1986-1989).
Ms. Medero is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and received her JD from George Washington University.
Founder, Paredes Strategies LLC
Troy A. Paredes is the founder of Paredes Strategies LLC. From 2008-2013, Mr. Paredes was a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. At the SEC, Mr. Paredes was a strong advocate for small business and the JOBS Act, for solving the information overload problem of securities law disclosure, and for rigorous cost-benefit analysis. He also consistently expressed concerns about the overregulation and overreach of the Dodd-Frank Act. Since leaving government, Mr. Paredes has had an active consulting practice. Mr. Paredes advises on financial regulation, corporate governance, compliance, and governmental and regulatory affairs. He also serves as an expert and adviser in regulatory enforcement investigations and actions and in private litigation involving securities law and corporate law, and he has been an independent compliance consultant/monitor. Before becoming an SEC Commissioner, Mr. Paredes was a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and a professor of business (by courtesy) at Washington University’s Olin Business School. Currently, he is the Distinguished Policy Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Next year he will be a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU School of Law. Mr. Paredes is the author of numerous academic articles on financial regulation, corporate governance, innovation, and behavioral economics. He also is a co-author (beginning with the 4th edition) of a multi-volume securities regulation treatise with Louis Loss and Joel Seligman entitled Securities Regulation. Mr. Paredes serves on the board of directors of Electronifie Inc. and is a member of the board of advisors of StreetShares, Inc. Mr. Paredes holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Berkeley and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Deputy General Counsel, Investment Company Institute
Matthew Thornton is Deputy General Counsel for the Investment Company Institute, with responsibility for a wide range of legal issues affecting registered investment companies and investment advisers. Mr. Thornton’s primary areas of responsibility include liquidity, valuation, corporate governance and proxy voting, advertising/social media, issues related to fixed income, disclosure, and investment advisory matters. Before joining ICI in 2014, he was an associate in Dechert LLP’s financial services group from 2005 to 2014. Before practicing law, Mr. Thornton held positions in the financial services industry at SunTrust Banks (now Truist) from 1998 to 2005 and Merrill Lynch from 1997 to 1998. Mr. Thornton is a member of the Washington, D.C. and Maryland bars and a Certified Financial Planner™. He received his BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Partner, Fusion Law, PLLC
Paul is the founding partner of Fusion Law, PLLC. He has extensive experience with state, federal, and global regulators building coalitions and implementing policies to promote innovation in financial services. He is responsible for designing and implementing the first state (Arizona) and federal (CFPB) FinTech sandboxes in the United States. He also designed the CFPB no-action letter and trial disclosure policies. He helped found the first global regulatory innovation coalition (Global Financial Innovation Network) and led the founding of the first U.S. regulatory innovation coalition (American Consumer Financial Innovation Network). He served on the Financial Stability Oversight Council subcommittee on digital assets. He also has drafted state-level laws on blockchain and utility tokens.
Paul also has significant enforcement and litigation experience. He led many multi-state consumer protection enforcement matters as Civil Litigation Division Chief at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Prior to his government service, Paul practiced law in the areas of securities litigation and transactional work for approximately six years at two well-known law firms. He also clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Legal Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Kathleen Barceleau serves as legal counsel for Allied Legal Affairs and Advocacy Strategy at Alliance Defending Freedom. In that role, she works to coordinate and deploy network attorneys to further ADF’s mission and conducts research in support of ADF’s strategic plans.
Before joining ADF, Barceleau was Of Counsel at Fusion Law, where she focused on financial regulation and policy issues. Previously, she served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Kansas, where she represented Kansas and its officials in civil rights and constitutional litigation in both state and federal courts. She also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Robert H. Cleland on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Barceleau received her J.D. summa cum laude from Ave Maria School of Law. She is a 2016 Blackstone Fellow. Before law school, Barceleau graduated summa cum laude from Ave Maria University with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and Early Christian Literature and Economics. Barceleau is admitted to the state bar of Michigan.
Partner, Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC
Jeffrey Harris is an experienced litigator who focuses on constitutional, appellate, and regulatory matters. He is currently a partner at Consovoy McCarthy Park PLLC. In 2015, he was named to the Legal Times list of “D.C.’s Rising Stars,” which identified “some of the most accomplished young attorneys in the D.C. area.” Mr. Harris previously served as Associate Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). In that role, he was second in charge of the 50-person office within the Executive Office of the President that reviews all significant federal regulatory actions and coordinates regulatory policy across the federal government.
Before his government service, Mr. Harris was a partner at Bancroft PLLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where his practice focused on Supreme Court, appellate, and complex litigation. Mr. Harris has extensive experience litigating before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been the lead drafter of more than 100 merits briefs, amicus briefs, and certiorari-stage briefs, and he has contributed to 10 wins in cases before the Court.
Mr. Harris has also litigated numerous high-profile cases in the federal courts of appeals, federal and state trial courts, administrative agencies, and arbitral tribunals. He has successfully argued before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits, achieving wins on behalf of airlines, telecommunications providers, and pro bono clients. He has also argued numerous dispositive motions in federal district court and has participated in the trial of a significant voting rights case.
Mr. Harris served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Judges David Sentelle and Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and his A.B. magna cum laude from Georgetown University. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia bars.
Founder, Paredes Strategies LLC
Troy A. Paredes is the founder of Paredes Strategies LLC. From 2008-2013, Mr. Paredes was a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, having been appointed by President George W. Bush. At the SEC, Mr. Paredes was a strong advocate for small business and the JOBS Act, for solving the information overload problem of securities law disclosure, and for rigorous cost-benefit analysis. He also consistently expressed concerns about the overregulation and overreach of the Dodd-Frank Act. Since leaving government, Mr. Paredes has had an active consulting practice. Mr. Paredes advises on financial regulation, corporate governance, compliance, and governmental and regulatory affairs. He also serves as an expert and adviser in regulatory enforcement investigations and actions and in private litigation involving securities law and corporate law, and he has been an independent compliance consultant/monitor. Before becoming an SEC Commissioner, Mr. Paredes was a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and a professor of business (by courtesy) at Washington University’s Olin Business School. Currently, he is the Distinguished Policy Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Next year he will be a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU School of Law. Mr. Paredes is the author of numerous academic articles on financial regulation, corporate governance, innovation, and behavioral economics. He also is a co-author (beginning with the 4th edition) of a multi-volume securities regulation treatise with Louis Loss and Joel Seligman entitled Securities Regulation. Mr. Paredes serves on the board of directors of Electronifie Inc. and is a member of the board of advisors of StreetShares, Inc. Mr. Paredes holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Berkeley and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Federal Overcriminalization and Originalism
Salt Lake City, UTProxy Plumbing - A Primer for the Coming Policy Debate
Lawrence Conover, Joanne Medero, Troy Paredes, Matthew Thornton
The SEC has periodically examined the ecosystem governing public company shareholder communications and voting—the “proxy...
Topics
How to Reestablish the Authority of Corporate Law in the Shareholder Proposal Process
This post originally appeared at Columbia Law School's Blue Sky Blog. The shareholder proposal process has...
The 30-Year History of Diluting ERISA’s Fiduciary Duty
Paul N. Watkins, Kathleen Barceleau
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), fiduciaries have a strict duty...
The Shareholder and Stakeholder Symposium
Washington, DCAn Unconstitutional Attempt to Address Affordable Housing
Jeffrey M. Harris
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
From Orange Groves to Cryptocurrency: How Will the SEC Apply Longstanding Tests to New Technologies?
Troy Paredes, Scott Kimpel
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
Topics
The Relentless War on Manufacturers
Last week, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the National Association of Manufacturers Linda...
Topics
Fixing How FDA Regulates Diagnostic Lab Tests
Diagnostic laboratory tests play a central role in the implementation of precision medicine. It is...
The Justice Department's bank settlement slush fund
George Will quotes Federalist Society directors Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz and Boyden Gray in his Washington Post op-ed on...